Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

fitch, four, drive, contents, history, models, existing, tractors, references, external, links,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (70), and (23), fitch (21), four (19), tractor (19), drive (18), was (15), company (15), michigan (12), rapids (12), #tractors (12), model (11), big (10), edit (9), 1915 (8), wikipedia (7), ludington (7), museum (7), page (6), with (6), links (5), november (5), there (5), that (5), new (5), move (5), contents (4), search (4), this (4), cat (4), john (4), are (4), known (4), models (4), history (4), hide (4), sidebar (4), view (3), about (3), use (3), wayback (3), 1930 (3), wheel (3), from (3), machine (3), farm (3), wheels (3), for (3), 1929 (3), news (3), 1916 (3), manufacture (3), agricultural (3), california (3), zealand (3), were (3), produced (3), during (3), first (3), few (3), selling (3), president (3), his (3), tools (3), main (3), language (2), toggle (2), table (2), contact (2), privacy (2), policy (2), under (2), terms (2), profit (2), wikimedia (2), inc (2), commons (2), categories (2), cs1 (2), maint (2), deprecated (2), archival (2), service (2), short (2), description (2), wikidata (2), motor (2), manufacturers (2), based (2), manufacturing (2), companies (2), retrieved (2), 2011 (2), archived (2), make (2), market (2), external (2), link (2), cite (2), brochure (2), 1918 (2), pages (2), engine (2), suddenly (2), daily (2), december (2), inventor (2), pioneer (2), herald (2), progress (2), grand (2), references (2), private (2), fully (2), restored (2), operational (2), one (2), west (2), around (2), county (2), also (2), angels (2), camp (2), gunnedah (2), existing (2), 000 (2), while (2), its (2), cylinder (2), which (2), just (2), after (2), formed (2), board (2), made (2), invented (2), had (2), been (2), instead (2), manufacturer (2), equipment (2), appearance (2), upload (2), file (2), changes (2), read (2), article (2), log (2), create (2), account (2), donate (2), menu (2), add, topic, mobile, cookie, statement, statistics, developers, code, conduct, legal, safety, contacts, disclaimers, text, available, additional, may, apply, using, site, you, agree, registered, trademark, non, organization, foundation, creative, attribution, sharealike, license, rendered, parsoid, last, edited, july, 2026, utc, hidden, webarchive, template, matches, articles, vehicle, disestablishments, disestablished, establishments, established, layout, united, states, https, org, index, php, title, fitch_four_drive, oldid, 1364893846, experience, how, purr, ray, noel, 1975, attempted, revolutionize, web, 2023, steel, website, veteran, gas, magazine, volume, 534, dies, saturday, sunday, morning, will, incorporate, story, reads, like, romance, happy, ending, edition, farmer, ownership, argentina, north, lichtenburg, south, africa, ontario, canada, villa, carlos, paz, museo, tractores, unrestored, packard, maungatapere, whangarei, northland, owners, modesto, area, central, lake, has, display, near, kelseyville, partial, las, vegas, owner, looking, restore, ely, stage, stop, country, historical, society, minnesota, coach, house, feilding, australia, rural, blenheim, marlborough, vintage, machinery, aberdeen, washington, source, estimates, production, numbers, less, than, shorter, sturdier, heavy, work, they, referred, later, name, removed, became, various, years, draw, bar, belt, ratings, featuring, beaver, waukesha, motors, weighing, 400, pounds, best, featured, climax, can, identified, oval, shaped, fuel, tank, behind, hood, fitch20, 35modeld, struggled, entire, existence, hundred, dollars, above, cost, led, demise, stock, crash, trade, offer, city, financed, construction, x200, brick, building, maple, street, east, tracks, moved, tend, perfect, world, war, caused, delay, materials, needed, being, marketing, demonstrating, died, elbert, jenkins, who, vice, year, elected, passing, indiana, railroad, 1914, millwright, lumber, industry, then, turned, attention, mechanical, inventions, fruit, farming, saw, horseless, vehicles, getting, stuck, along, roads, bordering, began, think, would, all, drivers, two, others, helpless, although, prior, named, gears, chains, transfer, power, axles, mason, until, advertisement, 1917, fitchfourdrivelogo, american, free, encyclopedia, item, other, projects, printable, version, download, pdf, print, export, switch, legacy, parser, get, shortened, url, information, permanent, related, what, here, general, actions, english, talk, français, top, personal, special, recent, community, portal, learn, help, contribute, random, current, events, navigation, jump, content,

Text of the page (random words):
fitch four drive wikipedia jump to content main menu main menu move to sidebar hide navigation main page contents current events random article about wikipedia contact us contribute help learn to edit community portal recent changes upload file special pages search search appearance donate create account log in personal tools donate create account log in contents move to sidebar hide top 1 history 2 models 3 existing tractors 4 references 5 external links toggle the table of contents fitch four drive 1 language français edit links article talk english read edit view history tools tools move to sidebar hide actions read edit view history general what links here related changes upload file permanent link page information cite this page get shortened url switch to legacy parser print export download as pdf printable version in other projects wikimedia commons wikidata item appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia american agricultural equipment manufacturer fitchfourdrivelogo four drive advertisement 1917 the four drive tractor company also known as fitch four drive tractor company was an agricultural equipment manufacturer which was based in big rapids michigan the company was formed in 1915 in ludington michigan and produced tractors until 1930 history edit the fitch tractor was invented by john h fitch of mason county michigan in 1914 1 mr fitch had been a millwright in the lumber industry in west michigan and then turned his attention to the manufacture of mechanical inventions and to fruit farming he saw the new horseless vehicles getting stuck along the roads bordering his farm and began to think about a machine that would use all four wheels as drivers instead of just two while the others were helpless 2 although there had been a few four wheel drive tractors invented prior to his the fitch as he named the tractor was the first to use gears instead of chains to transfer the power from the engine to the axles and wheels the four drive tractor company was formed in november 1915 in ludington michigan 3 john h fitch was the president of the company in december 1915 4 the big rapids michigan board of trade made an offer to move the company to that city the board financed construction of a 45 x200 brick building on maple street east of the grand rapids indiana railroad tracks mr fitch moved to big rapids to tend to the company and perfect the tractor world war i caused a delay of materials needed and progress was being made on marketing demonstrating and selling the tractors mr fitch died suddenly in november 1916 5 elbert jenkins of big rapids who was the vice president of the company during the first year was elected as the new president after mr fitch s passing 6 the company struggled during its entire existence to make a profit as the tractors were selling for just a few hundred dollars above the cost of manufacture this led to the demise of the company after the stock market crash of 1929 models edit fitch20 35modeld the company produced various models of four drive tractors during its first few years with a draw bar and belt ratings of 15 26 to 15 30 featuring beaver and waukesha 4 cylinder motors and weighing 4 400 to 6 000 pounds the best selling fitch tractor was the model d 20 35 which featured a climax 4 cylinder motor and can be identified by an oval shaped fuel tank behind the hood 7 in 1929 the company produced a shorter sturdier tractor for heavy work that they referred to the cat model e 15 30 model 8 later the name the cat was removed and became the model f estimates of the production numbers of the fitch models were around 2 000 tractors while the model e f was less than 70 existing tractors edit source 9 there are 4 known fully restored and operational model d 20 35 fitch tractors aberdeen washington the coach house museum in feilding new zealand marlborough vintage farm machinery museum in blenheim new zealand and gunnedah rural museum gunnedah australia there are 5 known unrestored model 20 35 tractors angels camp museum angels camp california the packard and pioneer museum in maungatapere whangarei northland new zealand and private owners around the modesto california area and in central minnesota the lake county california historical society has a model d 20 35 on display at the ely stage stop country museum near kelseyville ca there is also a partial fitch tractor in las vegas nv that the owner is looking to restore there are 5 known model e f 15 30 tractors 2 under private ownership in michigan that are fully restored and operational one at museo de tractores in villa carlos paz argentina one at north west agricultural museum in lichtenburg south africa and a model f in ontario canada references edit ludington farmer is inventor the grand rapids herald 1 november 1915 story of four drive tractor and inventor fitch reads like romance with happy ending pioneer herald progress edition big rapids mi 1916 incorporate co to manufacture fitch tractor ludington daily news 30 november 1915 four wheel drive tractor co will go to big rapids ludington daily news 6 december 1915 john fitch dies suddenly at big rapids saturday the ludington sunday morning news 19 november 1916 gas engine magazine volume 20 page 534 1918 the four drive tractor the four drive tractor company inc big rapids mi 1918 15 pages brochure the cat model e 15 30 h p four drive tractor company big rapids mi 1929 brochure steel wheels the website for veteran tractors retrieved 2023 05 11 cite web cs1 maint deprecated archival service link external links edit fitch four drive tractor the four drive tractor company john fitch attempted to revolutionize the farm tractor market with the four drive archived 2011 10 06 at the wayback machine my experience with a cat and how to make it purr by ray noel 1975 archived 2011 10 06 at the wayback machine retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title fitch_four_drive oldid 1364893846 categories tractor manufacturers of the united states four wheel drive layout ludington michigan big rapids michigan manufacturing companies established in 1915 1915 establishments in michigan manufacturing companies disestablished in 1930 1930 disestablishments in michigan motor vehicle manufacturers based in michigan hidden categories articles with short description short description matches wikidata cs1 maint deprecated archival service webarchive template wayback links this page was last edited on 19 july 2026 at 03 20 utc page was rendered with parsoid text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike 4 0 license additional terms may apply by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc a non profit organization privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia legal safety contacts code of conduct developers statistics cookie statement mobile view search search toggle the table of contents fitch four drive 1 language add topic